He groggily sat up in the hotel bed and ran his hands throughhis tousled hair. Glancing around he saw that Puck and Rachel were still fast asleep in their own beds, and then his gaze alighted on the slice of light pouring out from under the door of the bathroom.

Getting out of bed, Kurt slipped across the room and over to the bathroom door. He opened it a crack and whispered the vampire's name so low that only the count would be able to hear him.

"Come in, Kurt."

The human opened the door the rest of the way to find Blaine in the bathtub. HIs elbows were propped on either rim of the tub with his fingers laced together and chin resting on them.

Kurt closed the door and went over to kneel beside the tub.

"H-have you heard from Thadeous or anyone else?"

Blaine shook his head.

"I'm sure they're fine," Kurt said, though the reassuring tone to his voice faltered halfway through the sentence.

The ghost of a smile flitted across Blaine's features and the vampire extended a hand to brush a lock of hair out of Kurt's eyes.

"Why don't you get in here with me? I could use the company."

Kurt smiled, "Of course."

The human quickly stripped and slowly eased himself into the warm water. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's midriff as he stretched his body along Blaine's and resting his head against the vampire's chest.

Blaine's lips brushed across Kurt's chestnut hair. Kurt twisted his neck enough to plant a kiss on Blaine's lips and they slowly caressed each other with chaste kiss for awhile.

"Have you...decided what to do yet?"

"The first thing I need to do is figure out who's behind it."

Kurt was thoughful for a moment, then: "You don't think it was Karofsky, do you?"

"I considered it," Blaine sighed, "but I'm not sure if he would be willing to commit arson just because I kicked him in the balls."

"Oh, I don't know about that," replied Kurt, "balls are a pretty important thing to a guy, especially men of our prosuation."

Blaine chuckled, "True enough. Then again, it may not have been anyone. It might have been a faulty gas line."

"Could be," agreed Kurt.

They were suddenly interrupted by a pounding on the door.

"Hey," came Puck's voice, "if you two are done having bathroom sex can Rachel and I use the facilities before we go and rescue Artie?"

"It's already sunset?" Kurt asked in surprise.

"It has been for the last couple of hours. They just keep the rooms so dark it's not always easy to tell," explained Blaine.

Kurt and Blaine climbed out of the bathtub and dried off before dressing in their clothes from the night before.

"It's all yours," said Blaine.

"Finely," Puck mumbled.

"Yeah because you've been standing there for hours," Kurt responed sarcasticly. "And we were not having bathroom sex," he added as the door was slammed in his face.
////
They pulled up to the building where the auction was to take place about an hour later. The building was eight stories high and Puck whistled as he looked it up and down.

"How are we supposed to find him?"

"We follow the signs," Blaine told him, "but before we go in I have a few rules that you must adhere to."

Puck rolled his eyes, "Here we go. The vampire starts bossing us around at the first opprotunity."

Rachel slapped on the arm, "Shut up, Noah."

"Fine, what are they?"

"If you're determined as you seem to be about going in there with us--"

"You better fucking believe it, vamp!"

Kurt and Rachel both made 'shushing' gestures, glacing apprehensively at the building as if they expected someone to come out at any moment.

Blaine rubbed his temples, "I thought you two were high-spirited. Okay, Puck, you have to listen to me. In order for this to work you need to act like my slave. That means no talking back, no speaking unless I personally address you and you do not make eye contact with anyone. Is this understood?"

Puck was slow to answer.

"Because if you don't do what I tell you our cover will be blown and we can put saving Artie out of our minds."

"Yeah, fine," Puck grumbled.

Blaine studied him for a few minutes before giving one, short nod.

"Let's go then."

The quartet exited the limo and entered the building.

"Man they're everywhere," Puck whispered as he eyed the vampires making their way to whatever part of the building they worked in.

Rachel kicked him lightly on the ankle to remind him to shut up as Blaine studied the sign posted in the main lobby.

"Third floor," the count mumbled, "come on."

The four of them headed over to the elevator at the far side of the lobby and Blaine pressed the down arrow button. They waited for a few seconds before the shiny door dinged open and they stepped inside.

The elevator ground to a halt they walked out onto a wooden floor.

Kurt was suprised to see that there seemed to be more humans in the room then vampires. He could pick the humans out easily since they all had the same glazed-over look in their eyes when Rachel was still under St. James's control.

The slaves were distributing chairs around the room, arranging them so that they all faced the wide stage built into the wall at the opposite end of the room.

"Whe--?" Puck began before both Kurt and Rachel (who were on either side of him)gave him stern looks.

"You two stay put," Blaine growled at Rachel and Puck, "I won't be long."

Puck looked like he was about to protest but seemed to think better of it when he saw something flash in Blaine's eyes. On their side or not, he wasn't stupid enough to think Blaine couldn't easily overpower him.

Blaine waited until Puck was glowering at the floor before nudging Kurt's arm to tell him to come with.

"Why did you make them wait there?" Kurt whispered so quietly that only Blaine could hear him, his mouth hardly moving.

"I don't trust him to keep his emotions under control once we're in there. Plus I don't need three humans at my side in order to do this."

Kurt nodded. He had figured that.

"Excuse me, Mr. Talwki?" Blaine said to the head slaver.

"Talwki looked up and smiled in delight, "Well, Count Anderson, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Blaine smiled good-naturedly, though Kurt could tell it was a little strained. "What else, Mr. Talwki, I'm looking to purchase."

"Oh, you can call me Ben," Talwki laughed. "I take it you wish to look over the stock before the auction?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course it isn't. Right this way, sir!"

Talwki led Blaine and Kurt into a side room where a Plexiglas window stretched from wall to wall to offer a clear view of the captured humans inside. There was another door leading to a tunnel that led into the closed off space.

"Would you like to go in with them, sir?" Talwki motioned ot the door.

Blaine didn't answer right away. The wheelchair bound boy had been easy enough to pick out of the rest of the crowd and he was waiting for Kurt to decide if it was the right person.

After a couple of seconds, Kurt gave a very subtle nod.

"Count Anderson?"

"Hm, oh yes, sorry. Ah, Ben, about that one there in the wheelchair? Is he still available?"

Talwki chuckled darkly, "Oh yes, he's still available all right. If he doesn't go tonight I think I might have to drain him. My associates seem to think he's bringing bad luck to our sales."

A cold hand of dread clucthed at Kurt's heart and he nearly punched Talwki square in the jaw, but he managed to hold off.

"Well we can't have that," said Blaine, "how much do you want for him?"

Talwki's eyes expanded at the question, and then a broad grin spread across his face.

"Well I would consider myself lucky if I got twenty for him. He's in perfect health and seems pretty bright--for a human that is."

"I'll give you forty."

Talwki bounced on his heels in delight, "I'll go fetch him for you."

Talwki disappeared into the tunnel. A few moments later, they saw Artie jump and begin wheeling his way towards the exit. He glaced towards the Plexiglas screen and came to a stop when he saw Kurt.

'It's okay,' Kurt mouthed.

Talwki shouted at Artie again and the handicap boy put more speed behind his pushes.

Soon he and Talwki were back in the room with Kurt and Blaine. Talwki slammed the door to the tunnel shut and Kurt heard a soft click as it locked automatically.

As Blaine fished forty dollars out of his wallet, Artie came to a stop in front of Kurt, a questioning look in his eyes.

Kurt gave him a quick smile and bit his lip to try and contain his joy.

Blaine 'ordered' Kurt to push Artie out of the room as he returned his wallet to his back pocket.

"It's was nice doing buisness with you, Count Anderson," Talwki said, happiness evident in each syllable.

"The pleasure was all mine," said Blaine, "he looks just right to help with the books."

The vampires parted to join their separate groups, Talwki humming happily to himself and Blaine scowling at the fact that he had just bought another human in less then a few weeks apart from each other.

"Rachel, Puck," Artie said, grinning at them.

"Yeah, all of you can have a proper reunion once we get outside," Blaine muttered, leading them all to the elevator.
////
"This is great!" Artie shouted once they were safely heading back to Westerville. "I never thought I'd see any of you again!"

"That goes for all of us," said Rachel.

"Yeah, I guess we're pretty lucky that Fangmister bought Kurt instead of some other slimebag," Puck admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you, Blaine," Artie said sincerely.

Blaine smiled, "It was no trouble at all, Artie."

"There's just one little problem," said Puck. "Where are we going to live? I mean since they blew up your mansion and all?"

"There's a hotel close by. That's where everyone else is right now." He had recevied a text from Thadeous soon after they left the auction building. "We'll be rebuilding after we find out whose behind all this."
////
Karofky threw a heavy chair across his room where it hit the wall and shattered.

The bitch had called to complain to him agian. This time she seemed to think she could could blame him for Anderson leaving the mansion before the bomb went off.

Like he had any contol over where that scrawny idoit went.

Karofsky's phone rang and he snatched it up, "What?"

"Is that you greet people nowadays, David?"

He growled, "It's how I've always greeted you, bitch."

"I'll ignore that for right now," said the vampress hotly, "as I have more important matters to atend to and I'm a litlle pressed for time. I have another idea on how to kill Anderson, one that I think might actually work this time."

"What?"

"How good are you with a long-range rifle?"